military has panels twice as effcient?

rollandelliott

from this article:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/17/technology/military_energy/index.htm?hpt=te_bn5

This year the Marines are looking to buy larger, trailer-mounted solar panels that use advanced materials to generate twice the power of conventional silicon-based panels and can power an entire base.

wonder if this is just a misunderstanding or if really true?

RCinFLA

Re: military has panels twice as effcient?

If money is no object you can buy GaAs panels with greater then 25% efficiency which is about twice the 13-14% typical efficiency of silicon panels.
They are about $40 per watt.

GaAs based multijunction devices are the most efficient solar cells to date. In October 2010, triple junction metamorphic cell reached a record high of 42.3%

john p

Re: military has panels twice as effcient?

Tripple junction cells are available if you know how to get them..(dont tell them Joe sent you) thats not the new password.:roll:
But they will cost you about $100 per watt.:cool:
What size panels were you looking for???

rollandelliott

Re: military has panels twice as effcient?

wow I didn't know that high of an effciency was even possible. Wonder if that tech will ever trickle down to the consumer level? Sure would make installing array's that are 1/4 the size a lot easier.

ggunn

Re: military has panels twice as effcient?

RCinFLA wrote: »

If money is no object you can buy GaAs panels with greater then 25% efficiency which is about twice the 13-14% typical efficiency of silicon panels.
They are about $40 per watt.

I want credit for not going political with my reply.